Sunday, November 09, 2014
Son Of Sunda
Persib are a big club in every way possible. In an era of football austerity as clubs adapt to life without local government funding, Persib have entered the market place and found themselves companies willing to pay hard cash to be associated with the team and of course reach out to the large numbers of supporters.
Despite the ambitions of the football club they remain very close to their community and their fan base encompasses a district others can only dream about. As their profile rises it is possible we may find people on other countries 'adopting' Persib as their go to Indonesian team but it is hard to see the club turning its back on its own community in the way that so many in England have done.
Given this closeness to the local people it is appropriate the man to guide Persib to their first ever Indonesia Super League title should be a local lad. Born and bred in West Java, the town of Majalengka to be precise, Djadjang Nurdjaman was perhaps feted to lead Persib to success.
He was a part of the last great Persib side, the one that won the Perserikatan (an amateur league) in 1986, 1989/90 and 1993/94, the last season before football went professional. In all he spent 10 years playing in the blue of Persib and if his connection ended then he would still be fondly remembered.
From 2006 he has been employed in a number of coaching roles with Persib apart from a few years spent with Pelita Jaya (also in West Java of course). Finally in 2012 he was bought in to steady the ship after a couple of years when the club kind of lost their way under the guidance of foreign coaches of varying ability.
Two years with one club is a long stretch in this part of the world but the powers that be must have seen something they liked with Djadjang at the helm and that faith was rewarded last Friday night as he saw his charges defeat Persipura on penalties in Palembang to lift that first ever ISL title.
The city of Bandung has been partying hard ever since and not even reports of coaches ferrying fans back from South Sumatra being attacked in South Jakarta have done much to dampen the mood. Persib fans have waited two decades for this moment and they intend to savour it as long as possible. That the man who made it possible is one of their own just makes success all the more sweeter.
Despite the ambitions of the football club they remain very close to their community and their fan base encompasses a district others can only dream about. As their profile rises it is possible we may find people on other countries 'adopting' Persib as their go to Indonesian team but it is hard to see the club turning its back on its own community in the way that so many in England have done.
Given this closeness to the local people it is appropriate the man to guide Persib to their first ever Indonesia Super League title should be a local lad. Born and bred in West Java, the town of Majalengka to be precise, Djadjang Nurdjaman was perhaps feted to lead Persib to success.
He was a part of the last great Persib side, the one that won the Perserikatan (an amateur league) in 1986, 1989/90 and 1993/94, the last season before football went professional. In all he spent 10 years playing in the blue of Persib and if his connection ended then he would still be fondly remembered.
From 2006 he has been employed in a number of coaching roles with Persib apart from a few years spent with Pelita Jaya (also in West Java of course). Finally in 2012 he was bought in to steady the ship after a couple of years when the club kind of lost their way under the guidance of foreign coaches of varying ability.
Two years with one club is a long stretch in this part of the world but the powers that be must have seen something they liked with Djadjang at the helm and that faith was rewarded last Friday night as he saw his charges defeat Persipura on penalties in Palembang to lift that first ever ISL title.
The city of Bandung has been partying hard ever since and not even reports of coaches ferrying fans back from South Sumatra being attacked in South Jakarta have done much to dampen the mood. Persib fans have waited two decades for this moment and they intend to savour it as long as possible. That the man who made it possible is one of their own just makes success all the more sweeter.
# posted by Me @ 2:28 PM 
